NIR-based Sudan I to IV and Para-Red food adulterants screening

A review of the emerging technologies and systems to mitigate food fraud in supply chains

Food fraud has serious consequences including reputational damage to businesses, health and safety risks and lack of consumer confidence. New technologies targeted at ensuring food authenticity has emerged and however, the penetration and diffusion of sophisticated analytical technologies are faced with challenges in the industry. This review is focused on investigating the emerging technologies and strategies for mitigating food fraud and exploring the key barriers to their application. The review discusses three key areas of focus for food fraud mitigation that include systematic approaches, analytical techniques and package-level anti-counterfeiting technologies. A notable gap exists in converting laboratory based sophisticated technologies and tools in high-paced, live industrial applications. New frontiers such as handheld laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and smart-phone spectroscopy have emerged for rapid food authentication. Multifunctional devices with hyphenating sensing mechanisms together with deep learning strategies to compare food fingerprints can be a great leap forward in the industry. Combination of different technologies such as spectroscopy and separation techniques will also be superior where quantification of adulterants are preferred. With the advancement of automation these technologies will be able to be deployed as in-line scanning devices in industrial settings to detect food fraud across multiple points in food supply chains.

Immunoreactive proteins of Capsicum-based spices as a threat to human health: mass spectrometry analysis and in silico mapping

Dietary patterns are changing severely, especially the consumption of highly processed foods with lots of spices is increasing, carrying an increased risk of immediate hypersensitivity (type I), in sensitised individuals, due to the possible presence of allergens, especially the hidden ones. Paprika is a fruit of the Capsicum genus, which belongs to the Solanaceae family and is commonly consumed fresh or as a spice. Despite recorded cases of anaphylaxis, its allergenicity has yet to be clearly investigated. In this study, we research to identify proteins that could trigger a severe allergic reaction in patients with an equivocal clinical picture. Two types of protein extracts extracted from 3 different paprika spices were immunoblotted with sera from patients with severe allergic symptoms, presumably to paprika. Proteins from the IgE reactive bands obtained were subjected to LC-MS/MS identification and then in silico analysis to assess their possible sensitising capacity and proinflammatory potential using online tools. The spices were shown to contain a number of incompletely investigated highly immunoreactive allergenic proteins, including proteins of foreign origin (contaminants), the presence of which can stimulate inflammatory mechanisms and cross-reactivity with other food allergens, which can threaten life and health and should be investigated in detail.

Fabrication of hierarchical Ru/PEDOT:PSS/Ti3C2Tx nanocomposites as electrochemical sensing platforms for highly sensitive Sudan I detection in food

In our paper, a promising electrochemical sensing platform was fabricated with titanium carbide (Ti₃C₂T_x), poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), and ruthenium nanoparticles (RuNPs). First, the Shandong pancake structural PEDOT:PSS/Ti₃C₂T_x was prepared by physical stirring. PEDOT:PSS as the dispersant was embedded into the Ti₃C₂T_x nanosheets, increasing the degree of dispersion of the Ti₃C₂T_x nanosheets and further improving the specific surface area of the composite material. Then, RuNPs were supported on the surface of PEDOT:PSS/Ti₃C₂T_x to form the hierarchical ternary nanocomposite of Ru/PEDOT:PSS/Ti₃C₂T_x. The prepared Ru/PEDOT:PSS/Ti₃C₂T_x nanocomposite exhibited promising electrochemical sensing properties toward Sudan I detection with a wide detection range of 0.01 ∼ 100 μM and a high sensitivity of 482.43 μA mM^-1 cm^-2. Moreover, the Ru/PEDOT:PSS/Ti₃C₂T_x sensing platform has been successfully applied for Sudan I detection in ketchup and chili paste, implying the promising application prospect of Ru/PEDOT:PSS/Ti₃C₂T_x in food safety testing.